Safety in Numbers
by RIPtitanic
Summary: When Chase's family are killed, he is taken in by Ellie and Joel but will he ever be able to forgive them for what they have done? Will Ellie be able to put her faith in him or will he leave just like everyone else she has ever cared about? They will face danger and destruction but when it really matters, will they realise that they will find safety in numbers?


(A/N: I don't own The Last of Us. This story is rated T but does contain swearing and some violence)

Chase's POV

I am ripped from sleep when a scream tears through the silent night air. I grab my gun and hurl myself out of my tent, not even caring that I'm wearing nothing more than a pair of boxers and a t-shirt. I take in my surroundings and notice that my once peaceful campsite is now in flames. How could this happen? Another scream pierces the air and I spin around just in time to see a large, bearded man grab my mother from behind and shoot her.

"Mom!" I bellow, charging towards the stranger and tackling him to the ground. I get a couple of punches in before he kicks me in the side, winding me. He grabs his gun from where it had landed after being flung from his grip during the fight.

"Go on then! Shoot me! You killed my whole family so you might as well just get it over with" I spat, staring into his eyes as his finger begins to tense around the trigger.

"Joel, stop!" We both turn to find a young redhead, sprinting toward us, a look of pity and anxiety plastered across her face.

"Ellie...not now" the old man growls, his gaze never leaving my face, his gun still trained on my head.

"You've already killed his entire family, don't you think that is punishment enough?" The redhead sighs as she draws closer to us, the light from the burning fires illuminating her face. She's actually quite pretty and doesn't look much younger than me, probably about 15 or 16. I show her a weak yet grateful smile for trying to save my life.

"Excuse me, if I may just interject...it would be most appreciated if you would kindly lower your gun while you two have this little debate, I never exactly feel comfortable with a weapon inches from my face" I smirk until the man grabs me by the throat and lifts me off of the ground.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just kill you, right now?" He snarls, tightening his grip until I am choking for air.

"Joel, stop. He hasn't done anything wrong, there's no way he had any control over the attack on the settlement last night" the girl, Ellie, reasons with the old guy. Slowly, the pressure on my windpipe eases and I'm lowered to the ground.

"Wait...what attack?" I splutter after regaining precious oxygen.

"Don't act dumb, boy. The attack that your camp targeted our settlement with yesterday" Joel mutters, glaring at me.

"We didn't arrive in this area until this morning, we couldn't have launched an attack even if we wanted to" I wheeze, collapsing onto my hands and knees.

"Why should we believe you?" Joel demands, clenching his fists.

"I-I think he's telling the truth" Ellie states, stepping between me and Joel. Joel stares at Ellie for several minutes and finally turns to me.

"Alright, until we get to the bottom of this, you're coming with us" he sighs as Ellie smiles smugly to herself.

"I ain't going anywhere with you!" I counter, backing away from them. My foot makes contact with a large, heavy object, I search my surroundings and realise that it is my pack. I scoop my pack from the ground and attempt to sprint past them, to my horse. The last thing I see is Joel's fist inches from my face before everything goes dark.

/O\/O\/O\/O\/O\

Darkness. All around me, enveloping me in a black ocean of loneliness, with no possible methods of escape. Suddenly, light pools into my field of vision, shapes swimming into view. A flash of auburn hair, vivid green eyes gazing at me with deep concern. Where am I? What happened? Oh, shit! My family, my friends, all murdered by that bastard and his daughter. I have no one else. I try to sit up but am racked by pain, shooting through my head.

"Don't try to sit up, Joel hit you pretty hard" a familiar voice echoes through my head. The girl. I open my eyes fully, only to be blinded by the bright, fluorescent lights over head. As I slowly regain my vision, I see the same girl staring back at me.

"W-who are you? Where have you taken me? Where's my stuff?" I enquire, barely above a whisper.

"I'm Ellie, you're in a dam in Jackson, Wyoming and your stuff is over there" she gestures vaguely to the far corner of the room, where I see my pack resting against the wall.

"Why am I here? You could have just finished me off when you had the chance!" I remark, venomously, turning my head away from her.

"Well...Joel was kinda reluctant at first but I managed to persuade him that you could be of some use to us, here at the dam. With more and more people arriving at the dam every month, we are getting kind of short-handed when it comes to working the land to provide enough food for everyone. So now that I've answered some of your questions, I think it's about time that you answered some of mine..." she smiles, mischievously, playing with a small switch-blade in her hands.

"Woah, I don't want any trouble" I gasp, my eyes widening with fear at the knife. The girl just stares at me for a while, a menacing gleam in her eye before suddenly bursting into laughter.

"Don't worry. I'm just fucking with you. I was just curious about how you would react, you can usually tell a lot about someone by how they react when threatened" she grins, before continuing "so...what's your name?"

"um, I'm Chase but most people just call me Ace for short because I'm so awesome with a gun" I mention, casually, as Ellie's expression becomes one of amazement. This time it was my turn to laugh. "I'm joking! People don't really call me Ace, I just like to tell people that when I first meet them as an ice breaker of sorts" I smirk, as Ellie slumps back in her chair, her cheeks glowing scarlet with embarrassment.

"Hey, I tell the jokes around here! You know, I used to be addicted to soap, but I'm clean now" she giggles as she watches the confusion on my face and then the dawn of realisation.

"That was absolutely awful, you couldn't think of a better one than that?" I question, desperately trying to repress my laughter.

"Well, I was playing baseball last week and I wondered why the ball was getting bigger, then it hit me" she replies, smirking.

"Okay, you seriously need to learn some new jokes because those were absolutely terrible" I groan sarcastically, covering my ears with my hands.

"Or maybe you just need to get a sense of humor" she grins, prodding me in the chest. We both burst into laughter but it doesn't last long when we realise we're not alone. We both spin around, seeing a large figure standing in the doorway. Joel.


End file.
